ORD-FRA-ZWS
AA 84 March 29, 2007
The trip began at ORD, with a surly AA check in agent. She was impatient, and quite frankly rude. After performing a weight transfer on my luggage to keep it under 50 pounds, I was ready to go. The checkin agent gets a large
.
I cleared security not knowing I had a large bottle of toothpaste and contact solution in my bag. Oh well, I guess they were looking for things that are actually a threat to an airplane.
The flight was oversold by two, so I readily volunteered myself at the gate. The gate agent was very friendly, and to her I give a big ^ . She researched other options which would work for her and me, but there were two no shows/misconnects so neither myself nor the other volunteer were needed.
AA 84 to FRA left gate K-5. We were quite fortunate not to be traveling to DFW, every flight that day, save the last one, was canceled. The plane was a 767-300 with a newer J section, but I was in Y. The fight left Chicago on time, with an odd route due north over MKE and Green Bay. I was in seat 11J, beside a gentleman who was flying to Germany for a birthday party, as was I. Drinks were a stiff $5, a big change from the complementary drinks I have become used to on NW and KL.
The service was unremarkable. Though the flight attendant was polite, we barely saw him or the others the whole flight. I had to ask for a glass of water, none was offered throughout the flight. IFE was an LCD screen on the bulkhead wall one row ahead. The first movie, The Fastest Indian, was a motorcycle story and I slept through most of it. Likewise, I missed the second. Food was unimpressive, but edible. We arrived at FRA on time, however we sat on the tarmac for about 20 minutes waiting for UA to vacate our gate, C-3. The gate is in a construction area and it is somewhat of a mess. After arrival, I cleared immigration and customs quickly; the bags took about another 20 minutes to arrive.
This was my first AA flight in about 16 months, and my first AA transatlantic flight in about 5 years.
The train connection was easy. FRA had satisfactory signage to direct me to the Fernbahnhof, the regional train station. I was hoping to catch an earlier train to Stuttgart, but the delays in waiting for the gate and the luggage caused me to miss it by about 15 minutes.
I sat around the train station for a while. My train arrived and departed punctually, as can be expected with the German train system. I highly recommend booking a seat for your train at
www.bahn.de. My train was nearly full and there were few places to sit. At Mannheim, the train got even fuller when a large group of students got on. It costs about $5 to book a seat online in advance, and after coming across the Atlantic in the Y cabin, not having to stand for 90 minutes on a train was very much worth the money.
The verdict: For $426 RT I can’t complain much, but missing those 8000 EQMs on NW will hurt come December. I’d fly AA again only if the price were significantly less than NW. This time, I couldn’t justify the extra $300.